The inexplicable lines outside of bars

This post is inspired by the "inexplicable lines outside of Hot Doug's" thread. When the mrs. and I drive past a young-folks bar these days (our young folks days are about thirty years behind us now), we wonder why people are lined up to get in. Back in our day [spoken in crotchety voice], if a bar was too crowded to get into, you went to the bar across the street! There was and is no shortage of them--and most of them offer pretty much the same experience. But no--apparently, for today's young folks, it must be Durkin's, even though it means standing in line in the cold for an hour, because obviously none of the other eighteen Irish bars in a one-half-block radius can possibly do.

I don't get it. But since some of you, no doubt, are not thirty years past your young-folks-years, some of you might. I'm interested in what can possibly account for this mass psychosis.

riddlemay,

You sound like my grandfather.

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:riddlemay,

You sound like my grandfather.

It must mean I'm wise beyond my years!

Heh.

Right there with you. 30 years past the bar scene.

Hey - I'm 27 and I don't get it either (especially Durkin's, that place is disgusting).

I think it's a group thing. It's OK to stand around if you're with your friends. Plus if you decide to meet there, especially if everyone has driven and parked, by the time you go anywhere else there's going to be a line there too.

What I don't get is the whole standing around to wait for ANY bar. You know there's going to be a wait on a Saturday night, why not do something else?

Was there a game last night? When I started working at a large Big 4 accounting firm three years ago I was unaware of the insanity of post college folks congregating to certain bars to watch and root for their alma maters. I have a dear friend from Ohio State who literally splits her time between the various Ohio State bars in town -- I'm afraid I just don't get it.

At any rate...that might account for the line, Grandpa.

Or it's just the lemming factor.

Me -- give me a nice bottle of scotch and my living room!!!

Shannon

leek wrote:What I don't get is the whole standing around to wait for ANY bar. You know there's going to be a wait on a Saturday night, why not do something else?

Amen. When I was in graduate school, our program had very few Friday classes, and many students were already done with classwork and working on their dissertations, so Thursday night was our night to go down to the city and drink. Less crowded, lower cover charges, easier parking... we could easily hit three parts of town (say North Pier, Lincoln Park, and Green Mill) in one night and didn't feel like the world was going to come to an end if one place was not what we expected.

How far back does this affiliation of bars with certain colleges go, anyway? I got the impression from that Trib article that it was a fairly recent marketing innovation. Certainly, even given the minimal extent that I would have paid any attention to such things, it seems to have popped up quite recently.

Personally, a long line of twenty-somethings waiting to enter a packed bar is reason enough NOT to go there.
Give me the inconveniently located, sad-sack bar any day.
I'd mention some of my favorites if I wasn't worried it would result in the place becoming some sort of ironic hipster hangout.

Certain bars on certain nights have events set up with outside promoters, oftentimes booking and bringing in talent from other parts of the country, if not the world. They sometimes hit capacity due to the popularity of these events. (And the more stringently enforced fire codes in the wake of the E2 disaster.)

While I realize Durkin's probably isn't falling into that category, places like Sonotheque or Debonair Social Club firmly represent it. Some other places just wind up being the default afterparty location for certain events - Moonshine used to be the go-to place after the Wednesday night Summerdance events, leading to lines down the block to gain entry.

But those bars sort of straddle the line between nightclub and bar - I'm not sure I'd wait in line for just a regular old bar.

I won't even delve into manufactured lines and door issues at bona fide nightclubs, that's a bit beyond the topic here.

Long lines of 20-somethings outside bars are a red flag for another reason - it'll be too hard to get a beer if you do get inside.

Re: clubs manufactured lines - I won't delve into that subject either, except to say that if they had let me in without the wait, they might have been able to get another 10 or 20 bucks worth of drinks off me.

It's been discussed before but the bafflingly long lines of people waiting to get into Chili's in Evanston may be caused by the same phenomenon - groups trying to make decisions.

I'm 29 and I don't do this, but I understand why it happens. I've personally waited in line outside of gay bars, but usually only during pride or Market Days. The massive number of drunk people in a celebratory mood is really fun.

A friend and I once decided to move on to Duke of Perth from The Red Lion. On our journey we walked past several bars with lines of Trixies and Chads shivering in the cold. We walked into Duke of Perth, which was half full and had a grand time.

I assume these other bars were "the place to be." The beautiful people will be there. When I go to the bar, I go to drink, but if you are looking to meet people, I guess you go where the pretty people are.
Now, if you want to know who decides which bars are "the place to be," I can't help you with that. I'm just glad it's not the places I go to.

First off, can we finally retire the phrase "Trixies and Chads"...dear me, that's so overused (first heard it in 1992)..

C'mon folks...it's simple...Durkin's is infamously known as a place where almost ANYONE can get lucky...and any other place with a long line likely is too.....and hasn't this always been the case, even when we were of that age.....

Uh, here's a non-Chicagoan talking. "Trixie and Chad" might be passe for y'awl, but here in Montreal/Kansas City, it's new parlance. Who are these mythical creatures??

Geo

Geo wrote:Uh, here's a non-Chicagoan talking. "Trixie and Chad" might be passe for y'awl, but here in Montreal/Kansas City, it's new parlance. Who are these mythical creatures??

Names created for stereotypical yuppie residents of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. As far as I know, they come out of a satirical website called the Lincoln Park Trixie Society (though the names could well have come first). The site has been down for some time (looks to me as though bought by The Onion), though a Google search is topped by this description written, interestingly, by an old grad school classmate of mine for the online magazine Flak.

There doesn't seem to be a precise parallel in KC, but its analogous to the negative Johnson County stereotype.

I'd have to agree with the spirit of ParkLaBrea's post. As with most stereotypes, I don't find the terms particularly useful for a community discussion forum such as this.

Aaron Deacon wrote:The site has been down for some time (looks to me as though bought by The Onion),

despite letting the domain expire by accident and almost losing it, it's still the same owner... "they" just got bored i think.

someone else came along and basically copied the site's idea... The Lincoln Park Chad Society http://www.lpchad.com/ ... this site is actively updated ... (oddly enough, i know the founder of the LPTS extremely well and know the LPchad person as an acquaintance, but both they don't have any idea of each other...?)

Thanks for the correction.